SkiSickness

We were planning to hit Courmayeur as the skies cleared, but they cleared in a snap, and so, Morgan and I were compelled by pow fever to ski the Couloir des Cosmiques yet again. You can do worse than run laps on this 2777m descent, and today, it was DEEP with 40cm of fresh at the Aiguille de Midi, and more in the couloir. The pow kept on coming until the tunnel, where it relented to 15cm of fresh.

The nice thing about this line is that the sustained 45º in the couloir allows you to keep moving when the pow is so deep, until the low angle that the viewing public so admire.....

Two rests days almost turns one into a pro skier! No boot bang. Steel legs. Wow! Should have done that earlier on! Great day to do it.

We shot some video.


Here are some photos.

Morning on a Vallée Blanche powder day.


Lots of work to break trail across the Vallée Blanche in these conditions.


Sketchy bindings? Probably time to tighten them up before dropping the Cosmiques...


Looking down the Cosmiques.


Morgan sorting himself out at the end of the rappells with another party bearing down.


2777m down is quite a long way...


Mont Blanc is your backdrop.


Lots of deep pow down there....


Morgan crossing the rock band...


Killer 45º freshnes on the right.


Staying deep on the Bossons galcier.


The couloir is only about 900m, and so, another 1877m remains...


Seracs guarding Mont Blanc.


Shadow and light on the Bossons Glacier.


Dropping onto the glacier exit.


Deep all the way...


keeps on coming..


Not out of glacial terrain until way down...


Not out of pow until the tunnel...


GPS track of the descent.


GPS track in Google Earth.

I'm going to have to post more trip reports later today. Chamonix is dominating the BB! Not that that's a bad thing....

skykilo wrote:I'm going to have to post more trip reports later today. Chamonix is dominating the BB! Not that that's a bad thing....

There's skiing in Canada?

You guys spend too much time climbing up there when you could be a lift server!

I've got a buddy who flies heli skiers in AK. Maybe we should recruit him for the board.

Two sides to every coin. Not as many gumbies getting into lines way over their heads around here!

skykilo wrote:Two sides to every coin. Not as many gumbies getting into lines way over their heads around here!

Not that many in cham either; they're dead!

I dunno, jumpturn, I got myself into an epic helping some brits last September. Missed the dernière benne and spent the night in the station atop the Midi. Brrrr....

There are always new stupid people to replace dead ones!